Wheel tapings at Radio City

[cmjb13]

I was lucky enough to catch both sets of tapings for Celebrity week. I say lucky as while I was able to get VIP tickets, the VIP line included Wheel Watchers (contest winners I guess), contestant family members, Gold star (?) and general VIP. And while the VIP line was long, the general admission line went down several blocks. Had great seats though (8th row for 1st set, 7th row for 2nd)

A few notes:

-I'm not sure if it's been mentioned already, but the most famous names were Neil Patrick Harris, Sherri Shepherd, Montel Williams, and Jeff Probst.

-I'd think they would have to edit this, but after the 3rd and 5th game bonus rounds, tons of people were exiting thinking the show was over leaving behind lots of empty seats.

-The Thursday & Friday show of that week may seem rushed. They ran long on the first set and didn't completely finish until 9pm.

-Charlie O. mentioned they will be doing a promotion for February where they are giving away up to $1M to Wheel Watchers in various increments.

[Neumms]

[quote name=\'cmjb13\' post=\'165151\' date=\'Sep 30 2007, 04:30 PM\']
-The Thursday & Friday show of that week may seem rushed. They ran long on the first set and didn't completely finish until 9pm.
[/quote]

If the episodes I've seen lately are any indication, the Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday shows might, too.

[Robert Hutchinson]

Forgive my atypical curiosity in this area, but hasn't it been a while since Wheel had celebrities play the game? (Excluding sports figures, that is.)

[BrandonFG]

[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' post=\'165161\' date=\'Sep 30 2007, 07:07 PM\']
Forgive my atypical curiosity in this area, but hasn't it been a while since Wheel had celebrities play the game? (Excluding sports figures, that is.)
[/quote]
They had country music stars play for a week or two last year, and I think they still air a soap opera stars week occasionally.

[Sonic Whammy]

Having been there myself, too, thanks to my friend Robert winning tickets for the final two shows off the Watchers Club, I can agree with everything said to this point. But at the same time, when you have celebrities playing along, you're dealing with twice as many introductions, which cuts into the game time. Doesn't take away from the fun at all, though. (And watching the Wednesday show from the lobby, it was still exciting.)

By the way, it's probably been said here countless times, but I made it official for myself, at least. After the tapings, I asked one of the production staff about our constant question over the wheel's lack of evolution between rounds. The answer was what most of us have said: saves time during tapings (while still allowing the things being added to be worth money). A shame, really, but if it works for them, what can you do.

And I tell ya, it's weird to look at them take the $400 wedge off in Round 3 and literally plug in the Big Money wedge. I'd have rather the other $400 was used instead to spread out the Bankrput and Lose A Turn possibilities, but eh... you know the rest.

[Kevin Prather]

I don't get why celebrities have to be partnered with civilians? Why not do an all celeb show like they used to?

[beatlefreak84]

I don't get why celebrities have to be partnered with civilians? Why not do an all celeb show like they used to?

IIRC, Pat once said in an interview that some of the celebrities they had on the show had almost no clue how to play the game; he mentioned that one celebrity (did not give his name) didn't even know what the vowels were.  After that happened, they decided to do the celebrity/civilian teams.

I can sort of understand this because practically everyone knows how to play J!; there aren't that many rules to master.  On the other hand, while the basic rules of Wheel are understood by almost everyone, the nuances like "Prize Puzzles," "Mystery Wedges," the "Jackpot Wedge," etc. can be hard to keep track of.  Plus, with civilian contestants, IMO, the celebrities are generally less apt to take up precious time (definitely more precious now than when they did the all-celebrity shows) with ad-libs and such with civilians playing alongside them.

But, then again, why didn't they just do some pre-show screening with the celebs?  

Anthony

[BrandonFG]

Somewhere on Youtube exists a Rock and Roll week from spring 1994. The guests were Weird Al Yankovik, Little Richard and James Brown (as a team), and Lee Greenwood.

James and Richard act like they've never seen the show.

It all starts HERE.

[HYHYBT]

And I tell ya, it's weird to look at them take the $400 wedge off in Round 3 and literally plug in the Big Money wedge. I'd have rather the other $400 was used instead to spread out the Bankrput and Lose A Turn possibilities, but eh... you know the rest.

I've been wondering how that works... wiring-wise, I mean. It's plugged in to *something*, and it's on a rotating wheel. How does it not get tangled up? (yes, I'm probably missing something obvious. And I used to wonder the same thing about the original Family Feud board until realizing it never went more than one full rotation from its starting point and at worst they could just rotate it once the other way during the break)

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'HYHYBT\' post=\'165193\' date=\'Sep 30 2007, 11:48 PM\']
I've been wondering how that works... wiring-wise, I mean. It's plugged in to *something*, and it's on a rotating wheel. How does it not get tangled up?[/quote]
It's a reasonable question, and the only answer I can think of (unless I, too, am missing something) is that there has to be a wireless receiver (or, indeed, maybe full-blown WiFi) somewhere in the mix.

And I used to wonder the same thing about the original Family Feud board until realizing it never went more than one full rotation from its starting point and at worst they could just rotate it once the other way during the break

That one's even easier, considering that the hub of the FF board was well back of the facade of the board, which made allowing the umbilicals to hang straight down simple.

[uncamark]

Ideally, they'd like to give the celebs the same test they give the contestants (I know I heard Trebek say that at least once about "Celebrity J!").  But that usually, for one reason or another, is impossible, so they book 'em and hope for the best or hope the viewers will share in that special feeling of schadenfreude.

It seems to me that "Password" and "Pyramid" did have the bookers play the game on the phone with the celeb to see if they could handle it--but that didn't always work.  (See Walker, Jimmie on "$20K Pyramid.")  

As some comedian said to Gil Fates when he tried to get him to come in for a briefing on how to be a "WML?" panelist, "You pay me scale and you want me to rehearse, too?"

[Mike Tennant]

[quote name=\'uncamark\' post=\'165220\' date=\'Oct 1 2007, 12:42 PM\']
Ideally, they'd like to give the celebs the same test they give the contestants (I know I heard Trebek say that at least once about "Celebrity J!").  But that usually, for one reason or another, is impossible, so they book 'em and hope for the best or hope the viewers will share in that special feeling of schadenfreude.

It seems to me that "Password" and "Pyramid" did have the bookers play the game on the phone with the celeb to see if they could handle it--but that didn't always work.  (See Walker, Jimmie on "$20K Pyramid.")  

As some comedian said to Gil Fates when he tried to get him to come in for a briefing on how to be a "WML?" panelist, "You pay me scale and you want me to rehearse, too?"
[/quote]
Then there was the celebrity on You Don't Say! who just didn't get it.  It seems to be a common problem.  You book the celebrities and put them on the air without sufficient rehearsal, and you takes what you gets.